Korea’s women took the top three spots in the individual ranking round and seeded first as a team at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Choi Misun was top with 669/720 points, Chang Hye Jin finished second with 666 points and defending Olympic Champion Ki Bo Bae third on 663.
“We have the best players, we have talent and skill,” said the women’s leader. “It was so windy that people can get overwhelmed but we did well in the end.”
Early in the afternoon, it looked like the Olympic record (673) might be under threat. Choi found herself weaving around the average line, though any shot at breaking Ki Bo Bae’s world record of 686 was quickly unlikely. But as the wind picked up towards the end of the afternoon, as it has done through recent practice days, it slipped just out of reach as the round drew to a close.
“We had bad conditions compared to this morning but the result was good, so I have some confidence. Tomorrow I’d like to get a good rhythm as well,” said Choi.
If conditions had stayed as calm as for the men’s ranking round, a record might well have fallen.
Choi, Ki and Chang have one day of men’s team competition to prepare for the biggest event on their Rio calendar. The Korean women will go for an eighth consecutive Olympic team title at the 2016 Games, in an event they’ve never lost since it was introduced in Seoul in 1988.
Ki was part of the team that won number seven in London. Her teammates are Olympic debutants in Rio.
As the team does at the start and end of every competition session, the three women gathered around coach Yang Changhoon at the close of the ranking round.
“He told us we had done very well, but that the main match is not finished yet, and that we should focus on the next game,” Choi said, indicating that the team was well aware of the expectation placed upon them: “We always have the pressure, all the time. But we always do our game with that pressure.”
Chinese Taipei’s Tan Ya-Ting seeded fourth with 656 and Tuiana Dashidorzhieva, of Russia, fifth on 654.
Tuiana’s Russia ranked second as a team, followed by China, Chinese Taipei and Mexico.
